St. Norbert/ Rivière Sale

in the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia by Hon. Jean-Baptiste Tourond (St. Norbert north) and Hon. Pierre Parenteau (St. Norbert south). Norbert Laronce/ Larance/ La Rance/ Laurence was also named as a councillor during the Convention of Forty, perhaps slated to represent the parish, but in the end did not take a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia. [See “Convention at Fort Garry, Twelfth Day, Continued,” New Nation (18 February 1870), 1.]

The precise electoral boundaries of the St. Norbert electoral riding are unknown. According to the Archibald census of October 1870, St. Norbert (north) began after the lot owned by Pierre Gladu of St. Vital. There is a notation in the census that indicates a boundary between St. Norbert (north) and St. Norbert (south), but Pointe Coupée was included within St. Norbert (south), which had not been the case earlier that year, during the elections for the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia. The list below is a start to reconstructing the St. Norbert of the Resistance, using a map drawn by J.A.U. Beaudry in 1871 as a reference and operating on the assumption that the riding of St. Norbert (south) ended at about the lot owned by William Dease at Pointe Coupée.

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Rivière Sale, photographed at St. Norbert c.1900.

During the 1700s, Métis associated with the fur trade operating out of Montreal had established a seasonal gathering place known as Rivière Sale, on the Pembina Trail at the junction of the Red River and Sale/ Dirty River (later renamed the La Salle River). The fishing was good there and a bison trail ran from the south bank of the Sale to hunting grounds about 50 kilometres away. [Note: there were two rivers named Rivière Sale – the other was further south and known in English as the Salt/ Stinking River because of its salt springs and alkali waters (additionally, it was a.k.a. the Forest River).]

By 1811, the Pembina Trail leading south from The Forks/ Coblenz along the west bank of the Red River to Fort Daer was well known and well used. Former North West Company [NWC] carpenter, Jean-Baptiste Charette and his wife Charlotte Sansregret, built a “sturdy oak storey-and-a-half cabin” at Rivière Sale as a stopping house for travellers — the first commercial venture at the location [see photo]. A few Métis families, engaged in the seasonal pursuits of freighting, farming, and the buffalo hunt, followed the Charette’s lead and settled nearby — and lent aid to under-supplied Selkirk Settlers in 1812.

By 1822, additional families were relocating to Rivière Sale from Pembina (and elsewhere in territories where they had formerly worked for the NWC, which had amalgamated with the Hudson’s Bay Company [HBC] in 1821 and then laid off ‘redundant’ employees). Permanent dwellings, animal shelters, and cultivated properties became more common.

By 1844, the Catholic Church knew the settlement as mission de la rivière Sale/ the Sale River Mission. Sister Marie-Marguerite Eulalie Legrave of the Sisters of Charity/ Grey Nuns at St. Boniface was travelling to the settlement twice a week to hold catechism classes.

In 1853, a new road — the King’s Road — was built on the west side of the Red River, connecting the Rivière Sale settlement (and properties as far south as Pointe Coupée) to the Hudson Bay Company’s Upper Fort Garry. Father Louis-François LaFlèche was assigned to build a church, located off the road, downstream from the mouth of the Sale. In 1855-1856, he constructed a wooden chapel that was 90 feet long and 30 feet broad, which also served as a residence for the first parish priest, Father Jean-Marie-Joseph Lestanc. The mission was elevated to parish status in 1857. Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché named the parish St. Norbert, after the patron saint of his predecessor Bishop Joseph-Norbert Provencher (who died 1853). St. Norbert was the third Catholic ecclesiastical parish founded at Red River Settlement, having been preceded by St. Boniface and St. Francois-Xavier.

A boys’ school, run by two priests, was opened at St. Norbert in 1857 for about 30 pupils. The next year, two Grey Nuns, Sisters Hedwidge Dandurand and Flavie Laurent opened a convent and school for an equal number of girls.

In 1860 Father Charles Mestre replaced Lestanc and established the first cemetery (incidentally, he disapproved of buffalo hunting as an occupation). Rev. Nöel-Joseph Ritchot replaced Mestre in 1862. By 1868, a census indicated that of the 192 families with residences in St. Norbert Parish, 68 continued to work principally as hunters.

The people of the parish were early responders to encroachments made by newly arrived Canadian land speculators in 1869. In July of that year a meeting was held at St. Norbert Church and the settlers created a system of mounted patrols to police the area and remove survey stakes placed by newcomers. In October of 1869, le Comité Nationale des Métis de la Rivière Rouge formed at St. Norbert. John Bruce (of St. Boniface) was elected as president and Louis Riel (of St. Vital) as secretary. Committee members (including Jean-Baptiste Tourond) had been made aware by press reports that the ‘foreign country’ of Canada had sent an intended Lieutenant Governor of Rupert’s Land, William McDougall, with men and 350 rifles to impose an unrepresentative Canadian government upon the people of Red River. The Comité determined that McDougall would not be allowed entrance to the territory until he agreed to recognize the right of Red River settlers to enjoy the same elective powers held by British subjects elsewhere, including Canadians (along with other rights Red River settlers wanted assurances on). Four men were sent to stop McDougall at Pembina. At the same time, 40 men, principally from St. Norbert and St. Vital parishes, formed a local militia — the Patriot Army/ Patriotes — to block the Pembina Trail with a wooden barricade, known as La Barrière, at the Sale River crossing (which was in a different location than it is at present).

Rev. Ritchot was an active supporter of the Resistance. On 24 October, he negotiated an agreement with William Dease Sr. (of Pointe-Coupée) and his ‘Peace Party’ — which was in favour of allowing McDougall’s entry — to remain neutral. Some of Dease’s men joined the Patriotes, increasing the number of men at La Barriere to 100. Apparently, however, Dease continued to raise objections. As an appointed member of the proprietary government of the HBC, Dease was critical of the idea of instituting a provisional government in its stead (or at least of instituting one that did not pursue his particular agenda [See Possible Objectors to a Provisional Government, 29 Nov. 1869, this site]).

On 10 February 1870, Ritchot was chosen by elected members of the The Convention of Forty/ La Grande Convention as one of three delegates, who would travel to Ottawa and present the terms by which the settlers at Red River (numbering about 12,000, with about 1,055 living at St. Norbert), would agree to confederation with Canada.

Mary’s family was from Clinton County, NY (after arriving from Tipperary, Ireland in the 1820s). Many of Mary’s relatives relocated to Nashua, New Hampshire, but other relatives stayed at Medina and Holley, Orleans County and Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, NY. By one account, at 18 years of age Mary visited Montreal. Presumably, having been inspired by the Grey Nuns’ accomplishments at New York, and further impressed at Montreal, she chose to join the order. She arrived at Red River in c. 1864.

Alexis Honoré/ Allary dit Henri/ Henry (Métis, born 1813 to William Honoré/ Allary dit Henry and Agathe Letendre; died 1868) married Marie Dunais dit Lyonnais/ De Launais and in one instance ‘Ducharme’ a missreading of ‘Dulionasse’? (Métis, born 1818 to Francois Daunais dit Lionais and Francoise [a Saulteaux woman]; died 1862), and Genevieve Contre (Métis, born 1817 to #13360)

[1978-1979] [Hon.?] Pierre Parenteau (Métis, born 1832/ 1834 to #3811 Pierre Parenteau and either Josephte Laurin or Josephte Delorme) married Helene Normand (Métis, born 1850 to Baptiste Normand; or 1842 to #3747 William Normand and Lisette Carriere; or 1842 to Jean-Baptiste Normand and Louise Carriere?)